Love Like This
by MythGirl Writes
Summary: It was going to be a regular patrol before the Monokumas ambushed them. Now Toko was left to bandage Komaru's wounds and figure out exactly why she cared so much about seeing Komaru hurt.


Towa City was quiet; maybe a bit _too_ quiet, at least for an evening. Later in the day was when the Monokumas started running around, trying to ransack wherever could still be ransacked. That's why Toko and Komaru set themselves up on a mini-patrol around the city every evening, making sure to eradicate every Monokuma in sight. Of course, they got tips from Hiroko and some of the more helpful adults on the locations of the demon bears, which was appreciated, but it still seemed like the supply of demon bear robots was endless.

Except for tonight. Toko couldn't help but think about how strange it was. It had barely been a full month since she and Komaru took down the Warriors of Hope and Haiji Towa. Towa City was still more or less empty, but at least some improvements were made. For example, even though they remained mostly separated, the kids and adults didn't try to kill each other on a regular basis anymore. Not having to deal with that was a benefit.

"Hey, Toko? Does something seem off to you?" Komaru asked from beside her, hacking gun at the ready. Her usual smile was dimmed, replaced with a more grim, suspicious look as they walked their usual route, about a block or two away from the hotel they were staying at.

"Y-yeah. There aren't any Monokumas," Toko pointed out in a bit of a monotone, but there wasn't much else to say about the situation. "We've usually run into at least one at this point."

Komaru perked up a tiny bit, the tension in her shoulders relaxing. "Do you think this means that we've almost destroyed all of them?" The hope in her voice was almost too much for Toko to handle. She knew well that even when you think Monokuma is gone, he'll pop right back up for the sole purpose of ruining your life.

"I d-doubt it," she answered, and watched the fraction of relief drain out of her friend. "We still need to be on the lookout, just in case."

Nodding resolutely, Komaru kept one hand on her hacking gun and slowly reached her other towards Toko, stopping just short of Toko's hand and glancing at her like she was asking permission- which Toko knew she was. They'd been friends long enough that they knew each other in and out, which meant that Komaru remembered that Toko wasn't too fond of physical contact.

"G-go ahead."

...But sometimes she'd be willing to make an exception. Only for Komaru.

They kept walking, eyes peeled in different directions to make sure they didn't miss a thing from either side. The familiarity of the torn-up alleyways was a bit depressing, but it was at least better than-

 _No! Don't think about that stupid school_ , Toko ordered herself, reaching up her free hand to tug on her hair. Back when she bothered to brush and braid it, it was her nervous habit to pull on her braids when her thoughts spiraled to things she didn't like to think about. The habit never left, apparently, even though it had been about a year or more since she'd last braided her hair. Old habits die hard, she supposed.

A short gust of wind blew through the alley, making Toko yet again immensely glad that her skirt (unlike Komaru's) was past knee length so she wouldn't accidentally flash anyone. Which, she would like to add, was why she didn't walk behind Komaru on windy days anymore. There was only so much of someone's underwear a person could take in the span of an hour.

Toko froze in place, making Komaru stop with her. "Did you hear that?" she asked, her voice lowered to a near whisper. Komaru shook her head, but her eyes scanned the area around them with precision, liked she'd been trained to do this one job. It was actually kind of amazing how much skill Komaru picked up in about a month's time. She was a fast learner.

Another rustling sound from their right caught their attention. Toko instinctively fingered her stun gun, even though she'd been trying to work on fighting as herself instead of letting _her_ take over as often. "Monokumas?" Komaru whispered, her eyes not leaving the direction of the noise.

"Probably," Toko answered, and she let Komaru's hand slip through her fingers so they'd both be able to fight more easily, without having to worry so much about each other.

Oh, and that was another thing that came with getting to know someone inside and out. Apparently you began to worry about them more easily, and wanted to keep them safe. It wasn't a totally bad feeling; annoying at worst.

Then, like a flash of lightning, the Monokumas jumped out of the shadowed alley, the dimness of the sunset working to their advantage. There were at least seven of them, and while Komaru was whipping around and firing bullets at them like a pro (which she was at this point), Toko knew that she had to help.

Toko took a deep breath and reached under her skirt, her fingers latching onto the scissors that were kept in a holster wrapped around her thigh. It was strange how whenever a pair of the scissors was used, another pair almost instantly took their place. It almost made Toko wonder where they came from. But right now, she didn't have time to mentally debate that.

She clutched the scissors in her fist, running a few quick steps forward and jamming the blade into the head of the closest Monokuma. For almost each they killed, though, another came running at them from the alley. Toko kept grabbing more and more scissors, reusing the ones that weren't bent out of shape, and eventually got into a bit of a groove with using them. It was always more awkward to use the scissors at the beginning.

"Doing okay, O-Omaru?" Toko asked, her breaths coming heavily. She wasn't quite used to so much physical activity yet, but at least her stamina was a lot better now than it used to be. She could keep up with Komaru's boundless energy a lot easier.

The sound of a bullet breaking a Monokuma preluded her answer. "Fine over here!" Komaru shouted, already turning to paralyze another three Monokuma who were, quite foolishly, standing in a puddle left over from the recent rainfall.

The two of them combined must've broken another fifteen Monokumas by the time they slowed. Toko was nearly on her knees, she was breathing so hard. Komaru, on the other hand, was only slightly out of breath and was wiping her forehead with the back of her wrist. "That wasn't too bad, right?" she remarked with a small smile, clearly proud of getting rid of all of those Monokumas.

"C-could've been… worse," Toko admitted in between gulps of air. She straightened up, surveying the scene. Loose parts and robot skeletons were scattered all around them. "It l-looks like a mechanic's daydream here."

Komaru hummed, resting her hand that was holding her hacking gun on her hip. "I dunno, wouldn't a mechanic be happier with parts they could actually use?" To be fair, it was a valid point; there was little to no chance of salvaging any working parts from this wreck.

"Whatever, it was just- nevermind." Toko's lips slid into a bit of a frown, and her hands started fiddling in front of her. "What do you think that was about?"

Silence surrounded them as they each thought of the only possible explanation: all of those Monokumas ganged up to try to get rid of them. And, Toko realized, if they hadn't heard the Monokumas, they would've been pretty damn close.

She glanced off to the side for a second, movement in her peripheral vision catching her attention. As soon as she looked, though, it was as good as gone.

"Toko, watch out!" Before she could register what was happening, she was on the ground a couple feet away from where she'd been standing. Komaru blasted a Monokuma that was much too close for comfort before letting out a pain-filled shout, dropping her hacking gun and clutching at her arm.

"K-Komaru?!" Toko scrambled to her feet, but Komaru turned away from her, her hand still wrapped around her arm.

"I'm alright," Komaru told her through gritted teeth; an obvious lie. Toko tried taking another step towards her, but Komaru just took another step back, keeping a steady distance between them.

Toko, for her part, made her tone more forceful than usual. "You're obviously not. Did that thing scratch you?" She took a few quick steps forward, reaching for Komaru's wrist.

Komaru recoiled quickly. "I-I'm okay! No need to worry," she said unconvincingly, glancing down at the arm she was hiding from Toko's view.

"Let me see it, then." Toko crossed her arms, making no motion to let this matter go.

"Look, I appreciate it, but-"

Toko rolled her eyes, bending to grab the dropped hacking gun before turning away. "Let's just go back to our room then, got it?" She started walking away, feeling a bit guilty that she didn't turn back to make sure Komaru was following her. It was a good thing they weren't too far off from the hotel.

They spent the couple of minutes it took to walk there in silence, with Toko about ready to force Komaru into letting her look at her scratch. She hadn't let go of it, and Toko kept thinking she heard Komaru sniff as though holding back tears, making it hard for her to continue to convince herself that it really _was_ just a scratch. Why else would she be hiding it?

Toko opened their door and made a beeline for their first aid kit, stocked with anything they could find that may be of use. Most often, it was used for minor scrapes and the occasional third party they helped, but there were bandages of different sizes, rubbing alcohol and cotton balls, a couple pain relievers and a thermometer, and all the little things in between.

Almost immediately, Komaru began to protest, albeit more weakly than before. Toko gave her a stern glare, extracting the bandages and rubbing alcohol. Even if she wasn't a professional, she knew how to bandage a cut well enough, even if there was a good chance of her passing out.

"Show me," she said tersely, motioning for Komaru to uncover her wound.

Komaru hesitated, but eventually relented, taking a seat on one of the cool metal chairs in the kitchen area. "It's pretty bad," she admitted in a low voice, and it was then that Toko realized that she hadn't even looked at the rest of Komaru's arm yet, perhaps in an unconscious effort to avoid seeing any blood. Now, though, she sucked in a slow breath at the trail of blood running down Komaru's arm, partially covered by her hand.

Her eyes flicked back up to Komaru's. "Show me," she said again. "I can handle it."

Komaru nodded a bit before removing her hand, wincing as the slightly dried blood tugged at her skin. Her palm alone was coated fairly thickly in blood, which Toko did her best not to look at for too long. She needed to focus on the source.

Or, as she noticed nearly immediately, _sources_. "It's claws got me right as I blasted it," Komaru told her in a small voice as Toko's eyes slid over the three uniform gashes on her upper arm, each leaking blood. Toko made a noise to show she was listening before grabbing a towel off the kitchen counter. It was one of the only ones they had at the moment, but it was her best bet for cleaning up a lot of the blood in a little amount of time.

"Here," she said, handing it to Komaru. "Wipe off your hand and arm. I'll get the disinfectant." She turned away as quickly as she could, already feeling a bit of the churning sensation in her stomach that she got whenever she saw blood. If she was a year or so younger, this would lead almost immediately to passing out. However, after all of the death she'd seen, she'd become a bit more desensitised to it, allowing her more time and only a possibility of passing out. The only real difference this time was that this was someone she cared about.

When she turned back with the disinfectant and the bag of cotton balls, Komaru had the towel against her arm, some spots visibly dotted with blood. She was almost leaning away from her own touch, biting her lip to deal with the pain. "Do we have to use that?" she asked in a near whimper, eyeing the bottle of disinfectant nervously.

"I don't know, would you rather get an infection?" Komaru shook her head while Toko poured some of the disinfectant on a cotton ball. "That's what I thought. Go ahead and take the towel off so I can clean it."

Komaru complied, letting out a soft hiss when the fibers rubbed against the open wounds. Luckily, the bleeding stopped, which Toko thought meant that no arteries were cut (thanks, health class). "You've been really assertive," she commented, her voice wavering dangerously close to a sob as the cotton came into contact with the first wound.

"I kind of have to be," Toko muttered, trying to concentrate more on Komaru's pale skin than the wound itself while still making sure she cleaned it well enough. "You just wanted to risk infection to skip the disinfectant, I can't just stand by and watch you do that to yourself." She deposited the first cotton ball on the table, readying a second. "Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't been in tears this whole time. No offence." Although, she was looking close to it at this point.

"What can I say?" Komaru's voice was thicker, but a small laugh bubbled out before she let out a strangled noise of pain as the second gash was being cleaned. "I guess I'm too tough to cry."

Toko raised a dubious eyebrow, but didn't pause in her task. "Is that so. Do you not remember anything that happened last month?"

Another half-laugh. "Don't remind me." She fell into silence, watching Toko prepare the final cotton ball. "I actually have a pretty high pain tolerance."

"Lucky you." Another whimper, accompanied by shorter, ragged breaths. Toko really didn't want to deal with blood _and_ tears today. "I'm almost done, okay?" she said, putting the disinfectant and cotton balls to the side and picking the towel back up, patting the slashes dry as carefully as she could. The wounds didn't look too bad now that the blood was cleared away, and the fuzzy feeling in her head slowly subsided, leaving her mind clear again. She could say now that the slashes weren't too wide, which meant that Komaru'd likely be okay without stitches.

Komaru sniffed a bit every time the towel came into contact with her arm, but otherwise didn't make a sound. Toko was silent as well, unsure of what she could say that would distract Komaru. "I'm fine," she managed when Toko looked up with slight concern.

"What do you want to do when we get out of here?" Toko eventually asked, having thought of no other topic to speak of. "When we finish destroying despair and the city is restored, I mean."

"I never really thought about it," she admitted, watching as Toko put the towel down and cut a length of bandage from the roll. "You want to work for Future Foundation, right? Maybe I'll do that, too."

Toko smiled to herself, but made sure to wipe it off of her face before turning back around. "Why, so I can stop you from making any world-ending decisions?"

Komaru frowned as Toko started wrapping the bandages around her arm. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't talk about that," she said, pretend offended. Her tone brightened a bit in seconds. "Besides, maybe I like working with you and would like to continue to do that."

Toko didn't say anything in response, continuing to wrap her arm instead. It'd crossed her mind on a couple occasions. Komaru was more than capable of holding her own strength-wise, though at times she seemed to be lacking in the mental department. Nothing was stopping her from running off and leaving Toko for herself. In fact, she was surprised it didn't happen before, back when they'd first met up. She was given multiple chances to, and-

"Hey." Toko looked up to see Komaru smiling softly at her. Toko hurriedly attached the loose end of the bandage to the rest and looked away. "You have that look on your face- the one where I can tell you're thinking of something you don't want to."

"Jeez, am I really that readable?" Toko muttered, but she was secretly glad that Komaru pulled her out of those thoughts. If it was anyone else, though, she probably would've yelled at them. Why was she treating Komaru any different? "I-is your arm feeling b-better now?"

Komaru tried moving it, wincing a bit at first, but moving it with a little more ease after a moment. "Yeah, thanks to you. It's a good thing Hiroko taught us, right?"

Toko shrugged, starting to put everything back into the first aid kit. "It's basic first aid. It's not like I saved your life." Komaru made a small noise before falling silent again. Her eyes shifted from the bandages to Toko and back again, prompting Toko to just sigh and ask, "What's wrong? Did I wrap it too tight?"

"No, it's comfortable," Komaru said, all traces of the possibility of crying emptied out of her voice. In fact, she sounded a bit embarrassed about something, though Toko knew that couldn't be possible. What could she possibly be embarrassed about? "Are you alright, too? I know I pushed you kind of hard back there."

The scene flashed in Toko's mind again. "I'm fine," she finally said, "but what possessed you to do something like that? I could've fought back myself, and then you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Komaru looked thoroughly unconvinced. "How could you fight back against something you couldn't see? It was right behind you." She looked down at her hands, folded on her lap. "Besides, I didn't want to see you get hurt."

"So you assumed I'd be alright with seeing you get hurt?" Toko was getting angry, and while she knew it was unfair of her, she couldn't help it. "I've seen more than enough people get hurt or k-killed in my life. I don't need you going around getting hurt or killed too. Then I _really_ wouldn't have anyone in my life who cares about me." Komaru was taken aback by Toko's slightly raised voice and her words, perhaps realizing just how much Toko needed someone like her in her life. Which she really did; Toko enjoyed life more now that Komaru was in hers. She couldn't remember feeling anything like that before- not even with Byakuya. _What was this?_

"I'm sorry," Komaru whispered, and she sounded more hurt than she did before, somehow. "I just- I care too much about you to watch you get hurt when I could've done something to stop it." She rubbed her free hand up and down the bandage, wincing at whatever pain that brought but not stopping. "I didn't really think of the consequences."

Toko took a deep breath, steadying her voice. "I'm glad you care- I really am," she said, much calmer now, though still a bit stern. "But please, don't ever do something like that again. I value you too much, it's almost like-" She cut herself off with a sharp breath, her hands flying up to her chest in surprise. _It's almost like I love you_.

Komaru tilted her head in confusion. "Like what?" she asked innocently enough, though a smile twitched at the corner of her lips. She couldn't contain it after a minute and broke into a full-on grin like a little kid being let in on a secret. "C'mon, Toko, tell meeeee!"

"You're feeling better, then," Toko deadpanned, her gaze shifting away from Komaru. She hunched over a bit- another habit of hers- and her hands started fidgeting. "I don't have to tell you my private thoughts if I don't want to."

This answer didn't satisfy Komaru one bit. Her eyes widened until they were like a deer's, bright and begging. "Please, Toko? You can trust me, you know." Toko didn't answer, instead putting the first aid kit back in its place. "I love you too, just so you're aware."

Whirling around, Toko blinked, startled. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought- "W-What?"

Komaru laughed, standing up from the chair. "You heard me. I've known for like a week." Toko's mouth flopped open and shut like a fish gasping for air, but Komaru continued. "Like I said, you're easy for me to read, especially because we're together all day, every day. And I'll be honest; I've had a crush on you since a month ago. I was hoping you felt the same way."

Every thought possible raced through Toko's brain, nearly overwhelming her. She thought back to the last month; she noticed all the little signs Komaru dropped, and all the signs she saw in herself that she didn't even realize. For one, she hadn't thought about Byakuya for a while. Hell, she could barely remember when the last time she thought about him was. She'd started taking Komaru's opinions into account more, and started looking out for her more than usual, and- _damn it_ , she was in love!

"If you want to try us out, I'd be willing," Komaru informed her, her grin still full-force. "Just putting that out there."

Toko was still tongue-tied, but after a minute she stepped towards Komaru and very hesitantly put her arms around Komaru's shoulders in an embrace, careful not to jar her hurt arm. And yet again, Komaru was caught off-guard, but almost immediately returned the hug with one arm. "Thank you," Toko whispered, realizing for the first time that she didn't mind Komaru's warmth this close to her. Her heart swelled, and while she wasn't quite sure what love like this was like, she was willing to try it out, so long as it was Komaru.

"Thank _you_ for taking care of me," Komaru responded, turning her head so it was somewhat buried in Toko's neck. They held that position for what felt like an eternity before they pulled away. "You've come a long way from hating me, you know."

A short laugh crept out of Toko's throat. "I guess I have." It wasn't like she _hated_ Komaru in the beginning, though; she merely thought having an indecisive, overly emotional girl following her around was a nuisance. But Komaru had grown a lot since then, as well. Now she was less emotional but still empathetic, more no-nonsense, and all-around a stronger person. She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. "It's getting late. Do you want to get ready for Future Foundation's news broadcast?"

"Sure. We still need to call Makoto, too," Komaru remembered, turning on their shared computer and logging onto the video chat function.

"You're on your own for that," Toko said, turning away from the computer with a smirk. "I don't want to be here to watch your brother complex activate."

"I literally just told you I love you!" Komaru complained, but she had to know it was a good-natured joke by this point. Toko could hear the amusement in her voice. "Can you stay, please? I don't want to explain this-" she gestured to her bandages- "alone."

It took Toko all of two seconds to make up her mind, but she drew it out anyway. "Fine, if you really want me to," she said, her smirk softening. Komaru gave her a grateful smile, booting up the call. Toko returned to her side, and under where the camera could see, bumped her hand into Komaru's before their fingers laced together. She felt better, lighter somehow, now that she could understand what she was feeling. It was like a weight lifted off of her chest, letting her breathe easier.

"C'mon, get ready!" Komaru cheered, excited to talk with her brother again. Toko allowed her a tiny smile, her grip on Komaru's hand tightening. Even if she never knew what this kind of love felt like, Toko was fully willing learn quickly- but only for Komaru.

* * *

 **This fic was brought to you by a request by angeryweeb on tumblr and I am very happy with the way this came out. These girls being happy makes me happy :)**

 **Sorry for all of my inconsistent posting, I haven't had the motivation to finish one of the many fics I've started writing in the last year or so. Luckily, though, I am working on a couple, so those might be up by the end of the year.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this fic! See ya next time!**


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